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Fyre Festival
The Fyre Festival was supposed to be a "luxury music festival" to be held at the Exuma Islands in The Bahamas from April 28 to 30 and May 5 to 7, 2017. It was created by Billy McFarland, CEO of the now-defunct Fyre Media Inc., and rapper Ja Rule, with the intention to promote the Fyre music talent-booking app. The event was marred by numerous problems relating to food, security, accommodations, medical services and musical relations, causing its now widely-publicized cancellation. The Festival was supposed to feature Pusha T, Tyga, Desiigner, Blink 182, Major Lazer, Disclosure, Migos, Kaytranada, Lil Yachty, Matoma, Klingande, Skepta, Claptone, Le Youth, Tensnake, Thugfucker, Blond:ish, Lee Burridge, Niconé, Rampue, Bedouin, Fur Coat, Jan Blomqvist, Lovecraft, Bo, Daniel Cowel, Sezer Uysal, Lake Avalon, Rancido, Beto Abrahão, Nici Faerber, Daniel Nydegger and Stefano Richetta. However, they all pulled out when it becomes clear that the festival would be a disaster. The festival became the subject of Hulu's Fyre Fraud and Netflix's Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened in 2019. Background The Fyre Festival was created by Billy McFarland, CEO of the now-defunct Fyre Media Inc., and rapper Ja Rule, with the intention to promote the Fyre music talent-booking app. In December 2016, Fyre announced that the festival would take place between April 28 to 30 and May 5 to 7, 2017. Tickets to the festival cost between US$1500 and US$250,000, with more expensive packages including airfare and luxury villas. On January 12, 2017, a trailer for the festival featuring famous models was uploaded onto Fyre's official YouTube channel. On April 2, 2017, Ja Rule tweeted a flyer for the festival announcing the headliners, including Blink-182, Migos, Major Lazer and more. The event was also highly publicized on social media by high-profile models and influencers including Kendall Jenner, Emily Ratajkowski, and Bella Hadid. Situation Deteriorates On March 28, 2017, one month before the festival was supposed to begin, Twitter account @FyreFraud was created in order to bring attention to misleading claims made in Fyre's promotional materials. A week later, the Wall Street Journal reported that Fyre had difficulty paying its musical acts on time. On April 26, 2017, the day before the festival was supposed to begin in earnest and after many attendees had already either departed for or arrived at the island, Blink-182 announced on Twitter that they were backing out of the festival. The band explained that they believed their performance needs would not be met. Attendees noticed organizational problems soon after landing. Twitter user @WNFIV reported that travellers' luggage was handled very poorly, being simply dumped out of shipping containers with no security. Several people shared photos of the festival's disappointing accommodations, with many pointing out the drastic difference between the tents attendees were promised compared to the ones they actually received. Others noticed that the tents used by Fyre Festival appeared to come from a brand called Relief Tents and are meant as temporary housing for those displaced by disasters. One of the most-shared photos of the event came from Twitter user @trev4president, who showed off the spartan meals given to attendees at what was supposed to be a luxury event. It consists of untoasted sliced bread, warm cheese slices and dry salad. As reports about the disastrous festival spread, @FyreFraud posted an image claiming that a lawsuit against Fyre Festival was imminent (which did happen). Hopeful festival goers found themselves unable to reach the venue as flights were cancelled by Fyre in order to prevent more problems on the island. The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism tweeted a statement about the festival, expressing disappointment at the Festival and that they were intervening to help. The US Embassy has been reported to be running military-rescue missions to retrieve attendees, though that is unconfirmed. As of April 28th, 2017, it is unclear if patrons will be refunded, as the website for the festival states "All sales are final. There are no refunds." However, a tweet from @DylanACOP says that a "piece of computer paper" was going around the festival for people to sign so that they could get refunds. The first flight back to Miami boarded at 1:30 a.m. on April 28, 2017, but was delayed for hours due to issues with the flight's manifest. It was cancelled after sunrise and passengers were locked in the Exuma Airport terminal with no access to food, water and air conditioning. A passenger recalled that at least one person passed out from the heat and had to be hospitalized. The flight eventually left Exuma that morning, and more charter flights to Miami departed from Exuma throughout the day. Aftermath In the midst of all the backlash against him, Ja Rule tweeted that "it was NOT A SCAM" and that "this is NOT MY FAULT" [sic]. Many news outlets compared the situation to Lord of the Flies by William Golding and Suzanne Collins's iconic Hunger Games franchise. The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism apologized for the disaster on behalf of the entire country and denies any connections and responsibilities to the disaster. After numerous backlashes against the company, Fyre Media Inc. gave in and finally announced compensations in the form of either a full refund or free VIP tickets to the following year's festival. Lawsuits Due to the disaster, both Billy McFarland and Ja Rule were sued for US$150 million in damages from 150 attendees for false advertising and scams. A second lawsuit was filed against them, Fyre Music Inc. and 100 unidentified event organizers for breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation and fraud. Billy McFarland's second arrest and sentencings On June 12, 2018, Billy McFarland was arrested in New York for selling fake tickets to major events like The Met Gala and Coachella, reportedly earning him around $100,000. This is a separate charge from his charge for Fyre Festival and a federal judge has asked that he be detained as prosecutors allegedly have evidence McFarland also committed identity theft and bank fraud. McFarland's Fyre Festival sentencing took place on June 21. In July 2018, McFarland pleaded guilty to numerous fraud charges. According to NBC, "McFarland was able to make $150,000 in phoney ticket sales to fashion, music and sporting events." On October 11, 2018, Billy McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison for fraud. In court, McFarland said, "I made decisions that were a slap in the face to everything my family tried to teach me." Manhattan US Attorney Geoffrey Berman said he committed a "disturbing pattern of deception." Judge Naomi Buchwald said: "It is my conclusion based on all the submissions that the defendant is a serial fraudster and that to date his fraud, like a circle, has no ending." Reactions Social media users were quick to mock the attendees for the conditions that they were facing. r/FyreFestival was filled with so much troll posts and memes that genuine posts were tagged with "Verified" so as to make them easier to find and identify. Similarly, real posts were hard to find on 4Chan due to trolls. The Telegraph also covered some of the reaction memes featured on Twitter and Reddit. On hipinion, comparisons between the Fyre Festival and Dashcon were rife, so much so that Dashcon's infamous ball pit was Photoshopped into one of the images of the Fyre Festival. On January 14th, 2019, a GoFundMe campaign created to raise funds for the Exuma Point Resort was created, claiming they were never paid for catering and hosting the Fyre Festival organizers. Within seven days, the campaign received more than 140,000 of its $123,000 goal, having received donations from over 4,000 people. As one of the staff members recalled: "Back in April 2017 I pushed myself to the limit catering no less than 1000 meals per day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were all prepared and delivered by Exuma Point to Coco Plum Beach and Roker’s Point where the main events were scheduled to take place. Organizers would also visit my Exuma Point location to enjoy the prepared meals." Gallery Fyre Festival luggage.png|The luggage being mishandled in darkness. Source: @WNFIV Fyre Festival tents.png|The accommodation at the festival site, which is actually disaster relief tents. Source: @FyreFestivalFraud Fyre Festival food.png|The food at the festival. Source: @trev4president Fyre Festival refund.png|The refund process for the festival Category:Awful Moments in Music History Category:Events Category:Internet Memes Category:2017 Category:Controversies